The present invention relates to computer-assisted training systems and, in particular, to a particularly effective mechanism by which a user of the training system is motivated to continue with a training program.
For some years now, many attempts have been made to harness the popularity and nearly addictive properties of computer and video training exercises for the purpose of training and education. Since arcade and home style video training exercises are generally controlled by one form or another of an electronic computer, all such training exercises, including those played using a general purpose computer, are referred to herein as computer training exercises. Computer training exercises have the advantage that the challenge itself is interesting to the user.
For example, if the user is challenged to use user input devices to shoot and kill space aliens, the act of shooting and killing the space aliens is, for certain users, fun per se. In general, computer training exercises present a simulated threat to the user and give the user a simulated defense or weapon to overcome the simulated threat. Such tends to challenge the competitive spirit of the user and motivate the user to overcome the simulated threat.
Other computer training exercises simulate a direct competition between the user and a simulated or actual opponent. Such training exercises include racing and fighting training exercises in which the user respectively controls a vehicle to race an opponent""s vehicle through a race course or controls a fighting character to fight an opposing fighting character using user input devices. The opposing vehicle or fighting character can be controlled by the computer or by another user. These training exercises also challenge the competitive spirit of the user and motivate the user to out-perform the simulated or actual opponent.
Training programs typically include repetitive exercises to improve certain skills or cognitive abilities of the user. Some computer-based training programs use the simulated threat paradigm of computer training exercises to motivate the user to perform such repetitive training exercises. For example, the PalmPilot digital personal organizer available from US Robotics, Inc. of Skokie, Illinois, includes a training process which teaches the user to use a special alphabet that the PalmPilot digital personal organizer can recognize through a touch-sensitive pad. In this training exercise, letters and numbers move down the screen, apparently at the user, to form a simulated threat. In response, the user can simulate destruction of the threatening letters and numbers by writing the threatening letters and numbers using the touch-sensitive pad. By presenting the user with a simulated threat and incorporating a training exercise into a simulated defense or weapon, the user can be motivated to perform the training exercise repeatedly. Such a training program can be relatively effective if the training exercise is readily adaptable to a simulated defense or weapon and the skills improved by the training exercise are relatively simple.
Certain training exercises do not lend themselves as readily to the threat/defense training exercise paradigm described above. For example, some training exercises are not so readily adapted to a simulated defense or weapon. An example of such a training exercise is the recognition of a language phoneme by the user, e.g., distinguishing xe2x80x9cshuxe2x80x9d from xe2x80x9cchu.xe2x80x9d In addition, some training programs are so long, e.g., more than one hour per day for several weeks, that even the threat/defense training exercise paradigm loses its motivation efficacy.
A particularly helpful computer-based training program is described in the above-referenced patent applications and patent and further in the Training Patent. The described training program involves student participation for more than one hour per day, at least five (5) days per week, for eight (8) weeks. Such a program is long and maintaining interest and motivation in the various training exercises over such a long program is of particular importance. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that the users of the described computer-based training program are children. In addition, the objects of the training exercise are language-oriented in nature and therefore do not lend themselves to simulated weapons actuation as compared to relatively simple motor skills, e.g., typing, which are more relatively readily adaptable to simulated weapons actuation. What is therefore needed is a system for maintaining interest and motivation in the training exercises over the entire training program.
In accordance with the present invention, motivation mechanisms which are independent of stimuli of training exercises to which the user is to respond motivate the user to respond correctly and quickly to the stimuli. The stimuli of the training exercises are specifically selected and designed to challenge and improve a cognitive ability of the user. As a result, the manner in which the stimuli can be adapted to create and maintain interest of the user in the training exercises is significantly limited. Therefore, the motivation mechanisms of the training exercises therefore take on added importance.
The user is periodically rewarded with a reward animation for correctly responding to a predetermined number of stimuli. The reward animation includes humor and surprise to give the reward animation entertainment and inherent value to the user such that the user is motivated to earn another reward animation. In addition, the reward animations have consistent and persistent plots and characters which are spread over several reward animations. Specifically, two or more component reward animations can be part of a larger, composite reward animation with a consistent plot. As the user earns one or more early ones of the component reward animations, the user is intrigued and curious as to the subsequent happenings in the consistent plot of the composite reward animation. Such intrigue and curiosity motivates the user to earn further reward animations.
In addition, the likeness and personality of characters of one reward animation, either individual or composite, persists and appears in other reward animations with unrelated plots. As a result, the user develops familiarity with such characters and the enjoyment of reward animations is enhanced. Furthermore, if the character previously appeared in a composite reward animation, the user anticipates that the current reward animation is a component reward animation of a composite reward animation and becomes eager to earn subsequent component reward animations of the current composite animation. The persistent, consistent plots and characters which span multiple reward animations add significantly to the reward value of such reward animations to the user above and beyond surprise and humor.
Constant rate reinforcement such as immediate positive feedback and periodic reward animations is augmented by variable rate reinforcement in the form of randomly appearing reward animations or random variations in the immediate positive feedback. For example, the immediate positive feedback presented for each correct response to stimuli of a training exercise can be the lighting of a previously unlit torch and an animated flame which flickers until a reward animation is earned. The random variations of the variable rate reinforcement can be the substitution for a flickering animated flame with bouquet of flowers, a cup of hot chocolate, an apple, or a birthday cake on the torch. The randomly appearing animation can be the animation of an otherwise still character or object of the scene in which the training exercise presents stimuli to the user.
The randomness with which the animation or variations appear add surprise and curiosity to the user""s experience in using the training exercise. Such motivates the user to earn additional random animations and variations. However, the user has no idea when the next animation or variation will occurxe2x80x94it could happen after any correct response to stimuli of the training exercise. That possibility motivates the user to provide as many correct responses as possible as quickly as possible to see as many random animations and variations as possible.
Random animations and variations appearing in response to approximately 3% of the user""s correct responses to training exercise stimuli generally provides good motivation to the user. Excessive frequency, e.g., greater than 10% of the time, results in the random animations and variations becoming commonplace and too easily earned to provide maximum motivation to the user. In addition, insufficient frequency, e.g., less than 1% of the time, results in excessive rarity of the random animations and variations such that the user fails to believe that increased frequency of correct responses to stimuli will have an appreciable likelihood of earning a random animation or variation.
In some training exercises, the user is required to complete a task in order to earn a reward animation rather than responding correctly to a number of stimuli of the training exercises. In such training exercises, progress indicators cannot predict the relative progress to a reward animation since the training exercise cannot determine how many steps the user will require to complete the task. For example, the user can be required to identify matching pairs of phonemes associated with blocks displayed in a grid. If the user has particularly good memory capacity and particularly good phoneme recognition skills, the user can identify all matching pairs of phonemes in relatively few steps. However, if the user has relatively poor memory and/or relatively poor phoneme recognition skills, the user can require many more steps to correctly identify all matching pairs of phonemes.
To indicate progress toward completion of the task, the training exercise determines a maximum number of steps within which the user should be able to complete the task, e.g., to identify all matching pairs of phonemes. As the user takes a step toward completion of the task, the progress indicator represents a step toward the maximum number of steps determined by the training exercise. If the user completes the task, e.g., identifies all matching pairs of phonemes, in fewer steps than the determined maximum number of steps, bonus points are awarded to the user for each step less than the determined maximum which the user required to complete the task. In other words, the faster the user completes the task, the more bonus points awarded to the user. If the user fails to complete the task in fewer steps than the determined maximum, the progress indicator indicates that the task should be complete and no bonus points are awarded to the user. Thus, the user is motivated to out-perform the determined maximum number of steps the user should require to complete the task.
The determined maximum number of steps can be determined empirically. In the example in which the task is identification of matching pairs of phonemes, a simulated user with an estimated memory makes random attempts to identify matching pairs of phonemes and the number of steps required for the simulated user to correctly identify all matching pairs of phonemes is recorded. The determined maximum number of steps is the mean number of steps required by multiple trials of the simulated user plus one standard deviation of the number of steps required by the trials.
These motivation mechanisms provide the user with significant motivation notwithstanding limitations in the nature and adaptation of stimuli presented to the user by various training exercises.